‘The dark is just another form of light’

Think of it as another type of alchemy – rather than turning ingredients into dishes, I’ve been turning night into day. Don’t give me that look, I really have.

Basically, I’m getting ever so slightly frustrated by having to save my bloggery for Saturday/Sunday mornings, the only time I’m in my flat with natural daylight to work with. Among other things, there are weekends when I would like to spend as much of the daylight hours as possible asleep. Also, there’s something about dragging yourself out of bed at 8am on a day off, just to photograph the production of a stir fry, that is ever so slightly NOT OKAY. Not that I haven’t had cravings for tofu stir fry first thing in the morning before, but that’s another issue for another post. Promise.

I wanted to find out how to take photos using ‘natural light’, in the dingy refrigerator that is my flat at half past seven in the evening. I was waiting for the crushing news that I would need to invest in all sorts of special gear and expensive studio lights when I came upon this stroke of absolute genius…

So I decided to improvise a tiny photography studio in the space between the bed, the kitchen, my record player and the loo (it’s a small studio flat in East London, we’ve been through this). I have plenty of light sources, but opted for an ancient spot light from Ikea as it’s the only light I have on which the angle can be adjusted. I fashioned a filter screen using some planks of wood left over from my neighbour’s latest DIY project, a roll of baking paper, and lots of marginally effective packing tape, and used a piece of foam board to reflect the incoming filtered light.

In the middle of all this, I placed my photographic subject of choice…

it's times like this you wish you had flatmates to weird out.

The result of the peculiar set up above (after a leeettle nudge in Photoshop) was this:

first attempt.

Onions!!

Please, hold your applause…

Okay, seriously though, how cool is that? Thus, began a very geeky evening.

second attempt. making sweets look like a dodgy prescription.

For a wee amateur with no special lights and no other photography gear – not even a flippin’ tripod! – these are some pretty brilliant results.

going with the scattering concept.

I need a cooler, brighter bulb, something to steady the camera, and a more robustly built light filter, but as spontaneous trials go, I’m putting this one on the I Deserve A Glass Of Merlot list.

getting a bit frou-frou…

Okay, fine, I can have the Merlot on the condition that I promise to refrain from getting too cutesy with the food accessories. (I’m sure there’s some Cabernet Sauvignon I can sip while I try to remember where I put that adorable dish with the dragonfly pattern…)

I’ll be back with you soon to discuss a more food-oriented recipe. In the mean time, I’m psyched to have discovered the recipe for daylight!

Until then…

P.S. to anyone who was under the impression that the rather poetic title of this post is of my own imagining, bless you, but no – I wish! It’s lifted from a song by Drever, McCusker and Woomble, and belongs to the lines